182 feared dead in Bali blast

The death toll from an explosion in a Bali nightclub is reported to be at 182, with at least 178 injured in what the national police chief described as the worst act of terror in Indonesia’s history.

A second bomb exploded about 100 yards from the US consular office in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, said Lt Col Yatim Suyatno, a police spokesman.

There was no damage at the consular office and no casualties were reported from the blast, which occurred at 11.05pm local time (4.05pm Irish time) yesterday.

“This is the worst act of terror in Indonesia’s history,” Gen Da’i Bachtiar said in Jakarta. “We have to be more alert for other acts of terror including international terrorism in the future.”

In Canberra, Australia’s foreign minister, Alexander Downer, said: “It looks as though this was a terrorist attack.”

“It’s hard to believe there could be any other explanation for it,”

The first bomb destroyed the Sari Club, a popular nightspot frequented by foreigners in the resort of Kuta Beach.

Police said many foreigners were among the dead but their identities and nationalities were not available.

Australian tourist Rachael Hughes, 18, said she and her boyfriend had just arrived in Kuta when the blast ripped through the nightclub, smashing the window of their hotel room.

“Looking outside ... people are yelling and screaming, they are all going: ’They are all going to die’, “ she told the Seven Network television.

“Standing in the foyer of the Bounty Hotel, people were just walking in, blood dripping off them, burns to their face, skin coming off them. It was really a terrible sight.”

Police had no immediate motive for the blasts, which occurred nearly simultaneously.

“We don’t know if these blasts are connected,” said a US Embassy spokeswoman in Jakarta who declined to be identified. She said one American tourist was wounded.

The blasts come amid increasing fears by the United States and others that Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, is becoming a safe haven for terrorists and that al-Qaida operatives are active there.

The US Embassy in Jakarta was closed for six days in September due to what US Ambassador Ralph Boyce called a ”credible and specific threat” that he suggested was linked to the al Qaida terror network.

White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said Washington was monitoring the situation and working with Indonesian authorities.

The explosion at the Sari Club was accompanied by a large fire that engulfed another nightclub nearby, eyewitnesses said. Several other buildings on the same block and a dozen cars were badly damaged by the blast and fire.

Wayan Putra, a driver at the nearby Poppies hotel, said that after the blast, hundreds of townspeople rushed toward the nightclub but could not get near it because of the intense flames.

Dozens of injured were evacuated by drivers who normally ferry tourists from one part of the resort to another. Ambulances also arrived and the blaze was extinguished several hours later.

“It was horrible. I am devastated. Bali has always, always been safe. We depend on tourism for our livelihood. Our name has been smeared by this horrible blast,” Putra said. “What are we going to do now?”

A number of players from Australian Rules Football clubs were visiting Bali and were in the Sari resort at the time of the blast, according to an Australian Broadcasting radio report.

“I know there were boys from Geelong there. I know there were a few other AFL teams floating around as well, there were some rugby boys,” Simon Quayle, the coach of the Kingsley Australian rules football club, told ABC Radio.

“The place was packed, and it went up within a millisecond,” said Quayle, who climbed to safety but said eight of his 19 players were still missing.

Police and the military are “severely restricting” access in and out of Bali from Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai airport and ports in Benoa, Gilimanuk and Padang Bai on Bali’s east coast, Suyatno said, according to a report carried by the state-run Antara news agency.

Bali is Indonesia’s top tourist destination. Although Indonesia has been wracked by ethnic and religious violence since the overthrow four years ago of former dictator Suharto, Bali itself has remained quiet.

Unlike the rest of Indonesia, which is almost 85% Muslim, Bali itself is predominantly Hindu. Although Muslim radicals occasionally stage small-scale raids on nightspots in other parts of the country, Bali has never been affected.

Yesterday’s bombings are likely to be a huge blow to Indonesia’s lucrative tourism industry and might also undermine government efforts to revive the economy.

The blasts came just hours after a small handmade bomb went off near the Philippine Consulate in the port city of Manado on the central island of Sulawesi, about 1,350 miles north east of Jakarta. It broke three window panes on the building, but caused no casualties.